1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to telecommunication and data communication services. More particularly, and not by way of any limitation, the present invention is directed to a call party profile presentation service in a multimedia-capable next-generation network.
2. Description of Related Art
Over the last two decades or so, telecommunication services have evolved rapidly from simple telephone calls and fax communications to a host of advanced services such as multi-party conferences, voice mail, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, et cetera. This rapid evolution has been made possible primarily due to the successful deployment of the Intelligent Network (IN) and Advanced IN (AIN) architecture using Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) as the out-of-band signaling protocol infrastructure. Similarly, data services have also followed a significant transformation from basic text messaging in the 1980s to the World Wide Web and Internet of today, where transporting diverse media has become commonplace. For example, bandwidth-intensive services such as desktop video conferencing, video on demand, telemedicine, real-time audio, and many other applications are driving the demand for simultaneous support of different types of services on the same public network.
Coupled with the phenomenal popularity of the Internet, recently there has been a tremendous interest in using the packet-switched network (PSN) infrastructure employed in the data networks (e.g., those based on Internet Protocol (IP) addressing) as a replacement for, and/or as an adjunct to, the existing circuit-switched network (CSN) infrastructure deployed in today""s voice networks. Several advantages are expected to be realized due to such integration. From network operators"" viewpoint, the inherent traffic aggregation in PSN allows for a reduction in the cost of transmission and the infrastructure cost per end-user. Ultimately, such cost reductions enable the network operators to pass on the savings to subscribers or, more generally, users. Also, operators of a new breed of service-centric networks (referred to as next-generation networks, distinct from the existing voice-centric and data-centric networks) can offer enhanced services with integrated voice/data/video to users who will be using endpoints of diverse multimedia capabilities.
As alluded to hereinabove, several advances have taken place in both data and voice services. However, the current data-centric and voice-centric services do not provide the gamut of enhancements that are possible with the use of multimedia capabilities in a next-generation network.
Accordingly, the present invention advantageously provides an enhanced call party profile presentation service in a multimedia-capable network wherein the identity of a call party, i.e., either a called party or a calling party, can be presented to a subscriber via one or more multiple formats, including pictures, audio/video clips, graphic images, and the like. Preferably, the multimedia-capable network is provisioned as a next-generation network having a decoupled service architecture that is facilitated by the use of multimedia softswitch technology.
In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a system and method for delivering a party""s presentation profile to a subscriber at call setup or during the call in order to uniquely identify the party. A multimedia session engine is operable to launch a call treatment application for the subscriber with respect to a call between a call party and the subscriber. Service logic associated with the call treatment application determines an appropriate portion of the call party""s presentation profile to be provided to the subscriber based on subscriber selection, call party presentation profile restrictions, or both. Preferably, a database populated with the presentation profiles is provided that can be queried by the service logic. A multimedia interface operable with the subscriber""s terminal is actuated for delivering an indicium, e.g., name, picture, audio or video clips, etc., associated with the selected portion of the call party""s presentation profile to the subscriber. In additional exemplary embodiments, the indicia may also include the call party""s nickname, age group, gender, languages spoken, hobbies, and the like, which can be selectively presented based on the context, e.g., shopping, leisure, research, insurance quotes, and so on.
Where the call party profile refers to the profile of a calling party, it can be a default profile maintained by the network, or one selected by the calling subscriber, or one selected by a party who is authorized to make a call. Similarly, where the call party profile refers to the profile of a called party, it can be a default profile maintained by the network, or one selected by the called subscriber, or one selected by a party authorized to answer the call.
Depending on how the service architecture is implemented, the call treatment application may be provisioned as a service application hosted on a third-party server platform coupled to a public packet-switched network (e.g., the Internet), as a telecom-hardened, carrier-class service application hosted on dedicated IN/AIN-compliant nodes such as multimedia Service Control Points (SCPs) and application servers, or as a centralized service with service logic embedded in SS7 nodes (e.g., Service Switching Points or SSPs) and multimedia softswtich elements.
In one exemplary embodiment, the call party profile presentation scheme of the present invention is operable to effectuate a profile request by the call party in order to obtain a portion of the subscriber""s presentation profile. Responsive thereto, a multimedia interface operable with the call party""s terminal is actuated for delivering the subscriber""s profile to the call party.
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a computer-accessible medium operable with at least a network element disposed in a multimedia-capable next-generation network. The computer-accessible medium is further operable to carry a sequence of instructions which, when executed by at least one processing entity associated with the network, cause to be performed at least a portion of the steps of the multimedia-capable call party profile presentation method set forth hereinabove.